


A Collection of Daises - Tumblr prompts

by Feather_Dancer



Series: Odds and ends [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Gen, National Strickler dragging hour, Trauma Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feather_Dancer/pseuds/Feather_Dancer
Summary: Sometimes I take writing prompts on Tumblr for Trollhunters, here they find a home. Each "chapter" will mention the original prompt so you can decide if the theme interests you.Tags will be added as applicable whereas characters/ships are mentioned on each chapter.
Series: Odds and ends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106603
Comments: 11
Kudos: 13





	A Collection of Daises - Tumblr prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #1: Megan0013 - What about more of that conversation Nomura and Jim had in the Darklands about Strickler? Sassy Sister and Girlfriend’s Overprotective Kid talking shit? yes, please.

There is a very _particular_ type of stillness that inhabits the Darklands that is as natural as any inhabitant and is one not to be found outside these realms of decaying rot. It is one you learn swiftly to never turn a dull ear, nor to steady a wary hand lest such an innocent concept of _safety_ cost your very hide. Even trapped within a prison cell can offer no true reprieve, closed eyes are the nearest to true rest you can risk as the hours in turn can stretch into infinite between each summons.

If say something were to come along to break that silence you would immediately take notice and certainly try to hide your surprise when you hear a voice you never expected to hear here of all places. Something like say a little human Trollhunter? Now that would be a perfect example.

Maybe it is part of the reason Nomura decided to help him before his first bout, a little bit of spice within an endless routine of punishment now that a new favourite target could be taken for a change instead of her the spiteful side would say. Another instead would suggest this idiotic child has somehow managed to not only come here but **survive** somewhere outright hostile to his very existence and deserves rewarding with a chance in the face of never getting to see sunlight again.

The brat has proven to at least have _some_ taste it turned out and thus she gifted him a nickname that surprisingly has not been used in any form of mockery towards him. With each miraculous return to his cell battered, bruised yet still breathing, splinters and cracks started to grow wide enough to allow for more candid conversations between them that were no longer wrapped in scathing remarks for his innocent ignorance. She will vehemently deny the gnawing fear that grows over this being the final time he will be dragged away of course, and will do the same with the relief when each time she is proved wrong by his erratic subjects for complaining upon his return of which his latest is the poor hygiene habits of trolls and dentistry. This insanity of his in the name of hope does not need poisoning with her own doubts and the company of someone _not_ out for her blood presently is... pleasurably tolerable. Even liked, perhaps.

Neither of them could have predicted quite how often the subject of discussion would end up being about _Stricklande_ r of all people however and boy did she ever have the material to provide. Yet again he has cropped up after not long after the Trollhunter returned from his increasingly regular dalliances with the wolves complete with a newly gained limp from what little she managed to see.

"So wait wait lemme get this straight, _you broke into his apartment_?" Jim currently has his back to the same wall she is leaning against so that neither has to speak too loudly and risk gaining the attentions of a roving guard. He sucks in a breath when a rib twinges angrily from the latest excursion in the crucible making a frown creep onto her face. The specifics of what the trial they endured are rarely mentioned and in this case she has no great desire to poke trauma so freshly stewed despite the concern, certainly not when her own shoulder is rougher from recent dislocation.

"Please I did _that_ all the time. See he got this strange idea he could actually stop me, me! After I was ceremoniously banned from ever going there again I kept doing it out of spite to steal his wine or anything else that took my fancy at the time say his pen collection for instance," she replies all nonchalance as though it was such an everyday thing as going to work would be.

"Guard duty was nice and all but it got boring with being stuck stationed in one place all the time. I figured, hey why not keep pushing the boundaries and see what I can get away with! If he _really_ wanted me to stop he'd have actually done something about it instead of keeping escalating things until he made his place into a death trap for any human visitors. After I nevertheless managed to get in post the most dramatically extravagant "Nomura-B-Gone" ever conceived that was an honest miracle he could live in the damn place, he simply gave up trying and things more or less went back to normal. I let him have more peace between raiding after that _excep_ t when I really didn't want to pay for more wine, that was free game. He stashes some high-quality bottles and who am _I_ to turn my nose up at a valuable resource?"

The way the boy manages to burst out laughing interspersed with hiccupped ows and painful variations in between brings about a genuine smile even if he can't see it for himself. Guess they've not managed to beat a sense of humour out of him quite yet, good. It takes him near enough a minute at a guess for the stop giggling enough to speak but she has the patience to wait and enjoy the rare refreshing sound of something positive happening in their midst while it lasts.

"I... really can see him doing that? I mean he _did_ kinda help barricade my house over the course of an afternoon once complete with a freaking axe swinging at the door among other things! Went all out rigging the place I think he was having a blast figuring out how everything should work for maximum effect too." Jim mentions this ever so casually and it makes quite the contrast to her eyes widening in alarm.

_He did what_

Oh now _that_ is a story he needs to get out of this kid at some point. What was he even doing at that house which apparently for once didn't involve hitting on the Trollhunter's mother? Stricklander's frequent xenophiliac tendencies towards humans aside, he wouldn't do anything that drastic without a very good reason to justify it to himself.

"But like, how did you even get _into_ the apartment. I mean it kinda implies high up?"

"Ah now that's a trade secret Gynt, keep on surviving and just maybe I will teach you how one day."

She gets a grumbled noise in return interrupted by another painted grunt. It sounded rather doubtful, likely correctly assuming that she'd never mention it again unless forced to which makes her chuckle. He is learning something after all.

"Though from the way you keep talking about him you sound more like siblings more than his uh subordinate? Sorryifthat'sthewrongwordtouse! He just seemed to be more leader-y of you two though that might be because he's literally been my History teacher and I'm very biased." She can picture him starting to fiddle with his hands completely unsure where about the do not cross line is from how his voice pitches just a little and the noises of metal gently touching. Tap tap tap. Wasn't he supposed to have anxiety from the reports? Must be it's doing.

"He was in charge of the Bridge project and bringing Lord Gunmar back while I was still on the surface so you're not _completely_ wrong. We always did get on somewhat better than most of our kin I suppose though still had that element of risk if I overstepped or he was in a particularly bad mood and felt vindictive. Nobody in their right mind is nice for niceness sake after all," comes her reply whilst gazing at her claws. Some of them are disgustingly blunt now from all the times she's been forced to fight without a weapon. She hates it.

"He did throw me to Bular once, I won't lie, but that was _your_ fault rather than mine."

"Ah, um, I'm sorry?"

"Please we're changelings, if somebody is going under the bus better it's someone else and you were disgustingly good at lucking out and surviving the payback for your transgressions. That's why you get petty revenge instead by showing up in their office without warning and freak out your fleshbag teachers, I think the one in the hat thought I was a side hustle of his before I shut that idea down."

It's hard to tell if the soft gasp that hitches on the tail end and _Noooo_ was genuine or not but it amuses her enough to smirk anyway and even throw him a fun little tidbit to play around with.

"Say kid if you really want some good dirt to use on Stricklander at some point, that Mothman legend is all his fault. He got really drunk one night and because of your species having this habit of refusing to believe anything in front of their eyes a whole new legend went and sprang up. I have a couple of photos though the quality isn't anywhere near what you could get now, he gets all indignant about it whenever I start showing them around it's _hilarious_. Use that information as you will."

There is the sound of further movement coming from the other cell, not to stand she suspects but to brace his back a little more comfortably and alleviate the pain that must be continuing to throb before Jim starts to ramble back in reply between the tittering.

"But how can anybody even mistake him for Mothman? I've SEEN his troll form multiple times now and he looks way more avocado-"

"Ha!"

"-crossed with Kermit. Seriously, _how_?!"

"I _am_ rather glad someone else thinks that. You know I once got him a knock-off Kermit toy and decorated it a little with a hand towel and pipe cleaners before sending it along as an anonymous gift. Last I saw he was keeping it around on display, I think he secretly loves the idea but come hell or high water he'd admit it to anyone."

"... Okay I'm gonna call him Kermit to his face just to see how he reacts."

"Only acceptable if you tell me his reaction, a bonus would be if I'm there as witness."

"Deal."

Their voices start to peter out into something oddly companionable with little more than his soft breathing and pained grumbles breaking it. They both know it will be at least a small while before he is taken again for even Lord Gunmar knows that bringing about complete exhaustion will not be the best way to break his will. Better to call when least expected, allow wounds to fester and keep picking away bit by bit while denying any true rest or comfort. She doubts spite or pride will be enough to buoy the Trollhunter's spirit quite like how it does for her and it worries, he simply does not have the stamina to keep this up for long and certainly not at the rate he keeps being taken.

It is while Nomura is pondering over what exactly she can say that could help without being _too_ self-depreciating a lightly scratched voice pipes up and catches her attention.

"Hey Nomura, can I tell you something? Just need to promise me you won't tell him I said anything, please."

"If it's how much he's a perfectionist ass who loves things _just so_ I'm all too well aware. If it's about the whole centuries long love affair regarding a particular bard however...."

The sudden pause brings about another smile just picturing how his face must have contorted while trying to figure out exactly what she was getting at and possibly getting an idea. Whoopsie~

"I, what? No, _nope_ , not gonna even ask about that second thing! What _I_ wanted to ask is uh, it's way more personal than that?" There is the sounds of fidgeting again, taps and the slight clinks of metal being touched before a steadying sigh as his words start to pull themselves together.

"Before I found out about any of all this let alone about - _changelings_ ," he says sounding a little, resentful almost? She leans a little closer to the hole curious where this might lead.

"It's gonna sound stupid saying it now but I really _did_ think of him as a father figure I never really got to have in my life and maybe it's why all the lies hurt so much even before he started to attack me in my own house. I had this whole image built up of how he was so better than that deadbeat I'm related to but I guess I was completely wrong.... Heh, been wrong about a whole lotta things so hey why not him _actually_ caring being one of them! I was probably just a pet project to invest in for a while before I got the amulet to him, not anybody that really mattered."

The instinctual snarl that tries to launch from her throat is barely bitten back in time as no, he has every right to think that way even if it _is_ completely wrong. The Trollhunter might not know what the third part of Changeling code is but likely suspects from whatever he's managed to infer and how Trollmarket would have deliberately poisoned the boy against them all, spinning yawns of how they are little more than spies and backstabbers with nary a thought or will of their own.

"Let me give you a little bit of advice he used to tell me when I was far younger: never get involved with politics. It's there where every word you speak is dipped in a lie to keep your own head attached or for those you have a vested interest in alive and your reward is to suffer the reactions to a false truth because you can't breathe a single word to counter it."

The pause is uncomfortable and she catches the edge of a wince before he answers.

"... You think he really might have at some point? Cared, I mean."

"The world is far more complicated than its face value, after all it gleefully put loyalty into a cage to rot, did it not?" she hisses not even trying to hide her contempt for their current situation behind fully bared teeth this time.

" _You tell me_."

Jim tries to respond to that but only managing one or two words before he breaks into a rather nasty dry coughing fit. It is followed by a low whined sound from his injuries being aggravated again though there's nothing either of them can do to help ease it really. The only thing they have is time which is already sparingly existent, even liquids are scarce.

"You should rest up, little Gynt, I will keep watch for you and alert you if anybody is coming. If you start wheezing much more you might even make me concerned that you will expire on me. _Kindly don't_."

The wall between them is tapped twice with knuckles to relay this conversation is done for now. Without a further word Nomura quietly rocks into a position to quickly stand and slinks off to the opposite end of her own cell to maximise the distance while the boy's words start to sink in and what the implications of what they could possibly mean. The changeling doesn't like the conclusion she is drawing in how they are two sides of one single coin while being oblivious to the other.

Glaring beyond the "bars" holding her here, she pictures her kin all smugness and pride then lets out a snort.

_You really are a damned fool, Stricklander_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As can likely be surmised, Jim hasn't told her about the Angor Rot incident as yet though she does know bits and pieces of what happened after she got pulled into the Darklands, she might have worded her response differently had she known about the binding and an undead troll assassin running around but hey. At least it gives Jim something to think on much later when he has more context on how changelings function and their politics. 
> 
> Until rescue comes though, still plenty of time to drag Strickler some more.


End file.
